Edge protection using polyacrylonitrile thin-films for hydrocarbon-based membrane electrode assemblies

Abstract A hydrocarbon membrane-based membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is fabricated by attaching polyacrylonitrile (PAN) films to a sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) membrane to improve the durability of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) under cyclic hydration and dehydration. The edge protective PAN film is prepared by bar-coating to be extremely thin (6 ± 1 μm thick) in order to minimize the increase in the MEA resistance. This study focuses on comparing the pristine membrane with the membrane using the PAN film to identify the effect of the edge protective film. Therefore, durability test with hydration–dehydration cycles is conducted to evaluate it.